Suzunaru no Kirikabu On a hot summer day, Takashi Natsume and his feline companion Madara take a walk to buy jelly. Suddenly a truck passes the two, running over an old, masked man who asks Natsume for help. The mysterious individual turns out to be a youkai, the spirit of the Suzunaru tree that was recently hit by lightning and cut down. As the tree withers away, the youkai requests Natsume to fulfill his one final wish: to bring him water every day until he draws his last breath. Mugen no Kakera Tamami, a young schoolgirl, counts her steps through a forest, following instructions on a piece of paper. She stops to take a break and falls asleep but is awakened by an odd talking cat. Through meeting the cat and his human partner, Natsume, she learns that the forest has its own separate world from the contemporary, where one can see things otherwise invisible. Putting her trust in the duo, Tamami tells them about the story of how she helped a white owl that reappeared in her dreams to lead her back inside the bizarre forest.

Ex-convict Keiji Ueji appears in Sapporo, causing all the different factions to travel to the city in hopes of obtaining part of the map to the Ainu gold that is tattooed on his skin. At the same time, a figure who appears to be a copycat of Jack the Ripper terrorizes the streets of Sapporo. Saichi Sugimoto, Asirpa, and Yoshitake Shiraishi—joined by Fusatarou Boutarou the Pirate Oosawa and Vasily Pavlichenko—temporarily ally themselves with Toshizou Hijikata, as his faction's motives are somewhat less disturbing than those of Seventh Division's First Lieutenant Tokushirou Tsurumi. Asirpa attempts to collect all the information needed to tell apart the fake skins from the real ones, but she cannot decipher the map with certainty. Sugimoto swears never to part with Asirpa again, but the commotion around the serial killer allows for new betrayals and Tsurumi's plan for capturing Asirpa to advance. As the hunt for the gold nears its conclusion, the future of the Ainu rests in the hands of those who claim it first.

If a survey were conducted to see if people believed in aliens, time travelers, or maybe espers, most would say they do not; average high school student Kyon considers himself among the non-believers. However, on his first day of school, he meets a girl who soon turns his world upside down. During class introductions, the beautiful Haruhi Suzumiya boldly announces her boredom with normal people and her intention of meeting supernatural beings. Dumbfounded, Kyon learns of her frustration with the lack of paranormal-focused clubs at their school and unwittingly inspires her to start her own club. She creates the Spreading Fun all Over the World with Haruhi Suzumiya Brigade, otherwise known as the SOS Brigade. Following the SOS Brigade's founding, Haruhi manages to recruit Kyon and three other members: quiet bookworm Yuki Nagato, shy upperclassman Mikuru Asahina, and perpetually positive Itsuki Koizumi. Despite their normal appearance, the new members of the SOS Brigade each carry their own secrets related to Haruhi. Caught up in the mystery surrounding the eccentric club leader, Kyon is whisked away on a series of misadventures by Haruhi and the SOS Brigade, each one bringing him closer to the truth about who and what she is.

Although Jirou Horikoshi's nearsightedness prevents him from ever becoming a pilot, he leaves his hometown to study aeronautical engineering at Tokyo Imperial University for one simple purpose: to design and build planes just like his hero, Italian aircraft pioneer Giovanni Battista Caproni. His arrival in the capital coincides with the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, during which he saves a maid serving the family of a young girl named Naoko Satomi; this disastrous event marks the beginning of over two decades of social unrest and malaise leading up to Japan's eventual surrender in World War II. For Jirou, the years leading up to the production of his infamous Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter aircraft will test every fiber of his being. His many travels and life experiences only urge him onward⁠—even as he realizes both the role of his creations in the war and the harsh realities of his personal life. As time marches on, he must confront an impossible question: at what cost does he chase his beautiful dream?